Susan Sontag :: essays research papers

Susan Sontag, in "Against Interpretation," takes a very interesting dilettanteal rack on the idea of literary interpretation. Unlike most literary critics, Sontag believes that literary criticism is growing increasingly destructive towards the very works of art that they, supposedly, so greatly "appreciate" and "respect." Her standpoint could not be more accurate. Reading her work generates numerous questions, the most important of which is quite possibly, "How are we to take her utmost statement, In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art." In the light of her previous statements, made passim the work, one could only see this particular statement as an attempt to reach through the fog that blinds the majority of new-made critics. According to Sontag, no work of art, especially literature, can escape the surgical philia of the modern critic therefore, what is to stop her own work from coming under this blade of criticism? Sontags prepa ration for this criticism shows in the inclusion of her final statement. She has, in effect, laid a trap for the modern critic (who just happens to be you, me, and practically every other reader) with her final statement as the bait. Once the critic picks apart that last sentence, he will see, with greater clarity, the veracity of her work. Throughout this work, Sontag makes many statements that invite interpretation. Critics may analyze her repeated references to Greek literature or possibly her use of sexual imagery, but none could ignore the simplicity, brevity, and word choice that characterize the concluding sentence. The brevity of the final section is what catches the critical eye and the lurid choice of words is what pulls the critic in. The first question that the interpreter finds him/herself asking is, "Why hermeneutics and why erotics? There must be some implication to these terms." Analysis of these terms reveals the two extremes which Sontag has been comparing throughout her piece "hermeneutics" being an ensample term to describe the type of over-intellectualization that takes place with modern interpreters, and "erotics" being ideal for describing to just what extreme Sontag thinks art should be experienced. When the critics finally "excavates" this statement and, "...digs behind the text, to find a sub-text, which is the true one," he finds, low, and behold, the reinforcement of the very statement that Sontag has been inculcating throughout this piece. It does not take long for the critic to realize that he/she has been duped.